An historic win

Kathy Fuller, a seventh and eighth grade teacher at Unity Point in Carbondale, has been named the 2009 history teacher of the year by the Illinois State Board of Education, which awarded Fuller the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History prize.

Fuller is a 24-year teaching veteran who prides herself on making history come to life. She has had her students form Native American tribes and build dioramas based on their research. Pupils dressed in Civil War costumes based on biographies they studied of political figures, slaves, spies or soldiers and made presentations to their classes.

They’ve also participated in history fairs, created public service announcement podcasts as if they were promoting President Roosevelt’s programs and did news broadcasts in iMovie that spotlighted their research on important dates in history.

“All of these activities engage and excite the students while teaching them the importance of history,” she said.

In addition, she believes strongly that students learn the positive and negative aspects of history. So, she has made it a personal goal to travel and experience history herself, making to more than 35 states and 10 countries — walking over the Civil War and World War II battle grounds, Native American burial grounds and visiting the gas chambers at a Nazi concentration camp.

“Seeing me in pictures and videos at historical sites and holding artifacts really gets my students excited about history and the world,” she said.

To enter the contest, Fuller submitted a 10-minute video, examples of things her students had done and an outline of how she goes about teaching her charges.

She will now compete in a national contest with teachers across the country who have won the same honor in their states.